Pixel Watch Hit by Fourth Fitbit Sensor Bug in 4 Months
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- Pixel Watch owners report a Fitbit sensor permission screen that blocks Google Health apps despite every permission already being enabled on watch and phone, with no way to dismiss it.
- Reports surfaced over the weekend on r/PixelWatch and span multiple Pixel Watch generations, pointing to software rather than a hardware fault.
- A factory reset did not clear the error for affected users, who reported the glitch persisting after wiping their devices.
- Google has not issued a public statement on the current bug — the company's pattern this year suggests acknowledgment may surface on Reddit before any official support page.
- The current glitch is the fourth Pixel Watch health bug in roughly four months: a March bug zeroed aerobic and elliptical step totals while crediting one user with 6,000–7,000 calories burned in a day; a May Fitbit firmware reset SpO₂ and skin temperature permissions; and an ECG app failure also struck three Pixel Watch generations.
- Google is midway through folding Fitbit into its own Google Health platform after paying over $2 billion for the brand, a migration the article frames as the likely engineering backdrop for repeated bugs.
- The bug fails silently for background-collected data such as SpO₂ and skin temperature, meaning users can lose days of readings before noticing empty charts.
Why it matters: For Pixel Watch buyers who paid a premium specifically for FDA-cleared health features like Loss of Pulse Detection and ECG readings, a permissions layer that breaks silently — and won't clear with a factory reset — turns a health device into a fitness-flavored watch face. Four bugs in four months during Google's Fitbit-to-Google Health migration means wearers are, in the article's words, 'along for that ride' while an unfinished integration ships.
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